Accor Brazil is the First Hotel Company to Leverage the Pegasus/Interlink Agreement

DALLAS & RIO de JANEIRO, Brazil—Pegasus Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:PEGS - news) today announced it has entered into an agreement with one of Brazil`s largest hotel representation services firms, Interlink, to market the Pegasus Commission Processing service to Brazilian hotel companies. Pegasus Commission Processing is the hotel industry`s leading travel agent commission processing service and is operated by Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions, a leading provider of hotel industry transaction processing solutions and electronic commerce services.
Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Interlink provides representation services to more than 500 hotels, enabling the hotels to be electronically booked via the global distribution systems (GDS) for travel agent bookings and the Internet at http://www.reservhotel.com.br.

Accor Brazil Hotel Management Division, operator of 74 hotels and apartment-hotels under the brands Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Parthenon, is the first of Interlink`s Brazilian hotel customers to leverage the Pegasus/Interlink agreement. Accor`s luxury Sofitel Rio Palace, located on Brazil`s famous Copacabana Beach, is expected to be the first of Accor`s properties to completely outsource the management of its commission processing needs to Pegasus. In addition, Rede Residence (a hotel chain with 16 properties) and Rede Protel (a chain with 13 properties) have recently signed contracts with Interlink.

An additional 55 independent Brazilian properties also have signed with Interlink to use Pegasus Commission Processing and will be live with the service by end-of-year 2000. A sampling of those recently signed hotels includes: Ez Plaza Jardins, Ez Aclimacao, Atlantis Copacabana, Arpoador Inn, Ipanema Inn, Alta Reggia Plaza, Vernon Palace, South American Copacabana, Rafain Centro, Porto Alegre Ritter, Copacabana Sol, Matsubara and Lancaster.

According to Sergio Zamagna, chief executive officer of Interlink, the company`s marketing agreement with Pegasus Solutions greatly enhances the value of Interlink`s service offerings to its hotel customers. “Brazil is a popular destination for travelers worldwide, and travel agents are a valuable business producer for our hotel members. What better way to enhance our services to our hotel customers than to facilitate access to the world`s recognized solution in travel agent commission processing,” Zamagna said. “Through our agreement with Pegasus, Brazilian hotels now can easily and cost-effectively consolidate travel agent commissions, eliminating the need to cut numerous checks in multiple currencies. Instead, hoteliers can focus on their core competency of providing superb hotel experiences to travelers worldwide and at the same time enhance their relationship with travel agents.”

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According to Jeff Bzdawka, senior vice president of Pegasus Financial Services, the agreement with Interlink immediately strengthens Pegasus` presence in the Brazilian travel market. “A substantial number of the accredited travel agencies in Brazil are already members of our Commission Processing service. With this strategic marketing alliance, we can quickly expand our presence within the Brazilian hotel community as well. This alliance will not only benefit Interlink`s hotel customers but also the more than 100,000 travel agency locations worldwide that rely on Pegasus Commission Processing and want to book Brazilian hotels,” Bzdawka said.

Bzdawka continued, “Brazilian hotels have found that sending commission payments outside of Brazil is a bureaucratic, complicated and expensive process. Pegasus Commission Processing has received a stamp of approval from the Brazilian government. This means Brazilian hotels now can send all of their travel agent commissions payments in the Brazilian currency real to Interlink, who in turn will forward the payments to Pegasus to consolidate and disperse to travel agencies in their preferred currencies.”

On a monthly basis, Pegasus collects from its 31,000 member hotels actual guest stay information related to hotel bookings made by travel agents. After consolidating the hotels` information and commission payments, Pegasus sends a consolidated commission payment to its member travel agencies worldwide. More than 100,000 travel agency locations in 207 countries subscribe to the Pegasus Commission Processing service. Member agencies receive detailed reporting of actual guest stays, cancellations and “no shows” and can elect to receive total automated commission management through Pegasus` reconciliation and tracking service. Today, Pegasus processes in excess of $40 million in hotel commissions per month from more than 90 hotel companies in 159 countries.